A Millarville wine-making family is toasting to a sweet deal after tapping into the wine market in their native country this summer. Spirit Hills honey winery is expanding its export market to Belgium as it works towards putting its product on store shelves around the world. It broke into the Japan market last year. The family-run operation sent its first shipment of honey wine to Belgium earlier this month. It should be in stores next month retailing at €20 a bottle. “We’re really going to focus on developing that Belgium market,” said Hugo Bonjean, Spirit Hills president. “Because we have family and friends in Belgium we will probably employ some of them to do wine tasting promotions and things like that.” The family operation kicked off in 2012 with Bonjean as president, beekeeper and wine alchemist, wife Ilse in charge of sales and marketing, son Bjorn the main wine maker, and daughter Amber working in sales and administration. The opportunity came to Spirit Hills when Bjorn was in Belgium starring in a reality television dating show that also brought his bachelorettes to Millarville for a week where they joined the 28-year-old in honey harvesting, making wine and touring southern Alberta’s countryside. “They spent the week at the farm and went hiking in the Kananaskis the last week of July,” said Bonjean, adding it will air in Belgium this fall on prime-time television. While in Belgium, Bjorn met with wine importers to promote Spirit Hills’ various honey wines, which integrate organic herbs and berries with ancient honey wine fermentation methods. Bonjean said they were about to look into exporting their product to China. When Bjorn got the media opportunity in Belgium, they changed their focus. “I have good contacts in other European countries and would like to tap into some of those as well to see if we can extend into more of Europe before we start looking at China — northern European countries the Netherlands, Germany, Austria,” he said. “Honey wine was historically consumed in those countries much longer so it’s much better known there.” The Bonjean family has a history of wine-making in Europe. Their lineage goes back to generations of French wine makers from the centre of France near the Puis de Dome, where the vineyards of related family members still thrive. With Spirit Hills now tapped into the European wine market, Bonjean said it’s smooth sailing. “The nice thing with Europe is once you’re in you’re in, not just in Belgium but everywhere,” he said. “It’s much easier for us to sell in Europe than in the rest of Canada.” When starting the business in 2012, Bonjean thought he had a market of 30 million people across the country. It turned out that market was limited to about 4 million people in Alberta. “Every province has its own regulations and they pretty much block alcohol from other provinces with the exception of Saskatchewan,” he said. “It’s just very hard to get into the other provinces.” Spirit Hills honey wines can be found in more than 300 liquor stores in Alberta and Saskatchewan and is served in Alberta restaurants, bars and ski resorts, but not yet in any other province, said Bonjean. Getting Spirit Hills honey wine in Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia and the Maritimes is an ongoing battle for the Bonjeans. “Ontario and B.C. are very difficult provinces because they require an agent that would buy your product and that agent has to be from an Ontario or B.C. company,” Bonjean said. “Given the markets it’s often not worth their while. It’s embarrassing that it can’t be available to people in other provinces but it can be in Europe.” Bonjean said it makes expanding his productivity in Canada challenging. “While we grow strongly in this province we’re forced to look outside the province to get to the sales numbers that could support the entire family and have this grow out to a multigenerational farm,” he said. Despite his frustrations, Bonjean refuses to give up. “We will keep continuing to try to get our wine into other Canadian provinces,” he said. “Every year I will try again.” To learn more about Spirit Hills visit www.spirithillswinery.com
